


Seventeen: Almost Adults

by hollsteinhasruinedme



Series: The Sixteen [2]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Genre: F/F, M/M, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 07:18:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4129456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollsteinhasruinedme/pseuds/hollsteinhasruinedme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Carmilla and Kirsch show up at Laura's house at midnight for a surprise and it kind of all goes downhill from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seventeen: Almost Adults

**Author's Note:**

> I'm literally so sorry for this I just can't stop writing this type of universe. Plus, the whole Kirsch/Laura/Carmilla brotp is my life.

In case you were wondering…

 

We did make it to seventeen.

 

The cop that we uh… assaulted apparently had some memory loss or… something and didn’t remember a thing about what we did to him. Or, at least hasn’t said anything for a good 10 months.

 

Which is awesome because I turned seventeen ten seconds ago, and I’m _not_ dead. So yay.

 

Kirsch turned seventeen a week before me on July 14th, and Carmilla and Will turned seventeen on the 4th of July.

 

Go figure.

 

“Happy birthday, Laura,” my Dad says, giving me a kiss on the forehead.

 

“Thanks, Dad,” I say, enveloping him in a hug. He pulls back and ruffles my hair.

 

“I’m gonna go to -”

 

**Ding Dong**

 

I give my Dad a weird look before I go to answer the door. He puts an arm in front of me and steps ahead of me. He opens the door and laughs. “It’s for you,” he says, backing out of the way.

 

“Happy birthday!” they say at the same time. Kirsch nudges Carmilla over with his shoulder so she pushes him back with her hands.

 

“I said it first!”

 

“No, _I_ said it first!”  

 

My Dad clears his throat and they stop arguing. “Not that I’m mad or anything, but what exactly are you two doing at my house at midnight?”

 

They both look at each other and collectively take a step back from the door before Kirsch pushes Carmilla in front of him. She smiles nervously. “Can we please take her out to eat? She can stay over at my house and we can have her back before noon tomorrow. Please, Jack?”

 

He sighs, but then smiles. “I guess that would be fine, and noon is too early, I won’t get back from work until 3. How’s 2:45?”

 

“Awesome! Thanks Jack,” Kirsch says, turning around to head to his truck.

 

“Kirsch, wait a minute,” he calls. He stops, turns around and walks back.

 

I’m standing next to my Dad and I gulp because he’s got that fierce look in his eyes, like he’s about to give a long elaborate speech about not doing drugs or having sex or something like that.

 

He sighs. “Carmilla, Kirsch, I just want you to understand something.”

 

They nod.

 

“You’re about to take my little girl out way past her curfew, and I’m telling you I’m only allowing this because you’re her best friends, and… I kinda like you guys.”

 

Carmilla and Kirsch smile before hugging my Dad who laughs and hugs them back. “Thanks, Jack.”

 

He nods. “I’m gonna go to bed. Be safe, you guys.”

 

He leaves and they look at me. “Come on, loser, let’s go get some food in you.”

 

We walk out to Kirsch’s truck and climb in. I smile because Carmilla’s in the back all by herself. “Sulking back there?”

 

She huffs. “I would say something so insulting right now, but it’s your birthday. I’m nicer than that.”

 

We drive to the brand new Village Inn that’s open twenty-four hours a day and climb out, making our way to the door. Once we get inside, I see a table full of my friends waving at me. LaFontaine, Perry, Danny and Will. I turn to Kirsch and Carmilla. “You guys were totally planning on my Dad saying yes, weren’t you?”

 

They both laugh. “Kinda,” they say before we walk over to the table. They all say happy birthday and I smile back and say thank you, because honestly, this is already turning out to be the best birthday I’ve ever had.

 

I met LaFontaine and Perry back freshman year, but Danny I just met this year. They’re all pretty decent people, honestly and I couldn’t ask for better friends.

 

The waiter walks over to the table and flips her notepad open. “Can I get you guys something to drink?”

 

I order sprite, Carmilla orders a Mountain Dew, Kirsch order what Will gets, which is coffee, which Carmilla and I laugh about because Kirsch doesn’t really like coffee all that much.

 

Oh, yeah. Will finally asked Kirsch out on a date at the beginning of Junior year, which was funny because he stumbled over the words so many times it took him a good three minutes to even ask the question.

 

And as for my crush on Carmilla, well…

 

I still haven’t got over it. Not like it matters though, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like me back, which is fine because I’m totally okay with just being friends with her. But it’s kind of hard to think that when she’s sitting right next to me, holding my hand under the table.

 

But… friends hold hands, so that doesn’t mean anything.

 

...Right?

 

When the waitress comes back and tries to get our order, Perry smiles. “It’s Laura’s birthday.”

 

I blush. The waitress looks at me and smiles and holy crap… she goes to my school. “Oh, hey Laura. I didn’t realize it was you at first, I mean… at first I did, or I thought I did but I didn’t want to be weird or awkward so I just didn’t say anything.”

 

“Yeah, well, you should have kept it that way.”

 

I look at Carmilla and raise an eyebrow at her. She shrugs. “Uh… anyway, since it’s your birthday, everyone at this table gets free pie, but I’ll ask what you guys want at the end.”

 

I smile and nod at her. “Thank you, uh… I’m sorry I don’t know your name.”

 

She looks down at her black polo and frowns. “I forgot my name tag, oops. But I was in your honors chem class. I’m Jasmine.”

 

I laugh. “Oh, yeah, you’re the girl who started the lab on fire!”

 

She shrugs and gives me a bright smile. “Guilty.”

 

When we finally get around to ordering our food, we all decide to order the VIB, which is where one person gets four items served to them. We all order it so we can share family style.

 

Once Jasmine takes our menus away, I turn to Carmilla and lower my voice. “You okay?”

 

She nods and gives me a smile. “Yeah, kiddo. Sorry, I’m just not feeling well.”

 

“Carm…” I warn. She lets go of my hand and waves me off. I leave it alone for the rest of our midnight breakfast.

 

Once we're back in Kirsch's truck, and he turns on the engine, I unbuckle my seat belt. “I’m gonna get in the back.”

 

He shrugs and unlocks the door. I get out and open the back one before crawling in the back and sitting next to Carmilla. She doesn’t look up. “Can I help you?”

 

I pinch her cheek and she bats my hand away. “Yeah, you can stop being so grouchy.”

 

She doesn’t want to smile, I can tell, but she does. “Sorry not sorry.”

 

And I accept that because it’s the closest thing to an apology I’ll ever get from her.

 

I turn away from Carm and look at Kirsch. “Where are we going?”

 

“We’re just driving.”

 

**_1:34 am_ **

 

We’ve been “just driving” for twenty minutes now, which doesn’t bother me at all because I love late night drives, maybe even more than I like late night walks. And it always helps if your best friend is holding your hand and doing the thumb rub-y thing.

 

We’re downtown now, and it’s not super impressive because we’re in a town of 68,000 people, so there’s not much, but some of the buildings have lights on them and the highways cross over each other. There’s like, one other car on the highway and it’s a moving van.

 

Call us weird, but a lot of the time whenever I sleep over at their houses, all three of us like to do these late night drives because we feel it tells a story. “Why do you think they’re moving?”

 

Carm smiles against my hair. “The Mafia.”

 

Kirsch sighs lightly. “What if one of the parents died and the other one lost their house so now they’re moving to head to a brother or sister’s house so they can stay there until they get back on their feet?”

 

I lift my head off of her shoulder and we look at each other. “How much fanfiction have you been reading lately, dude?”

 

He laughs. “Too much,” he says, flipping his turn signal on. “You guys wanna go to the river?”

 

We nod.

 

See, there’s this really nice river that has a walking bridge and the buildings around it cast a glow on the water and it’s just really, really beautiful.

 

Kirsch parks his truck in the back of a gas station and we start walking to the bridge. And you wouldn’t think Carmilla one for holding hands, especially with boys, but she’s in the middle of Kirsch and I and she’s holding both of our hands and swinging them in time with our steps as we get towards the middle of the walking bridge.

 

I mean, not that it matters or anything because we’re all gay, but, still.

 

We finally get to the middle and sit, putting our legs between the green bars and swinging our feet above the river. “I think I want to be a writer,” Carm says and we both turn to her.

 

“Really?” Kirsch asks.

 

She shrugs. “Yeah.”

 

“What would you write about?”

 

She kind of half smiles. “You guys.”

 

 _“Aww!”_ we say, leaning our heads on her shoulders. She shrugs us off and chuckles.

 

Then we end up talking about how Kirsch wants to teach underprivileged kids at refugee camps around the US. Which really doesn’t surprise us at all because he helps out at the homeless shelter every weekend.

 

And then I tell them how I want to be a journalist and they laugh.

 

“Cupcake, we already knew that.”

 

Kirsch laughs. “It’s literally so obvious, you always have your nose in something.”

 

I huff. “Rude.”

 

_**2:26 am** _

 

We end up singing _Home_ by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes on the way to the park we’re heading to and I can’t stop smiling. “I love you guys.”

 

Carmilla hums.

 

She’s still doing the thumb rub-y thing and maybe that’s part of the reason I can’t stop smiling. “And why’s that, cutie?”

 

I shrug as Kirsch pulls into the gravel parking lot, turning off his headlights. “There’s all kinds of reasons, but like… I don’t know, you guys just make me feel like I have another home.”

 

We get out and head to our favorite overhang. We use the trashcan and the table to get on top of the small roof.

 

The stars are really nice tonight.

 

Everything’s really nice tonight. “Do you guys think I can double major in astronomy and philosophy with a minor in creative writing?”

 

It was a lot to think about but I turn my head to look at her and shrug. “I don’t see why not.”

 

“Yeah, my Dad, he um… he did that whole ‘rule of three’ thing, you know when he was… not dead.”

 

I close my eyes and purse my lips. “I’m sorry, Kirsch,” I whisper.

 

“Hey, no. Don’t apologize. Your Dad is like my Dad, so thank you for that.”

 

It was true, my Dad never had a problem with Carmilla or Kirsch coming over, because neither of them had Dad’s so he was more than happy to try and play that role. Which he actually did really well.

 

“Yeah, when my Dad wasn’t an asshole, he and my Mom double majored, but they only told me you could do that with certain subjects. Probably because my Mom wants me to follow in my Dad’s footsteps, which is definitely not going to happen.”

 

“Your Mom loves you though, so tell her you don’t want to become a surgeon.”

 

She sighs. “I know she does, cupcake, but I feel like she’ll be disappointed if I decide to study writing and philosophy over medical school.”

 

Kirsch chuckles. “No way, man. Even if she did, you could always come live with me and my Mom.”

 

Kirsch’s Mom had always said that. Especially to me since my Mom died when I was really little.

 

I sigh. “You guys know all those theories about the stars and universe and the cosmos and stuff like that? Like, how everything happens for a reason and the way people think make that stuff happen in a way?”

 

“Yeah, that’s kind of why I want to double major in what I said, dummy.”

 

I kick her and chuckle. “But seriously… what if us being friends happened because, I don’t know… the stars or the universe wanted it to?”

 

“Yeah,” Kirsch drawls out. “Because… we all moved to the same town at the same time and then got put into the same school.”

 

“Not to mention the fact that we all only have one parent,” Carmilla says. I nod.

 

“Also, we’re all Cancers…”

 

I blink.

 

Weird.

 

“Maybe we’re like… I don’t know, the new future or something?”

 

Carmilla and I laugh. “We’d have to figure our shit out before that could ever happen, Crust.”

 

We do end up talking about college and what we want to major or minor in for a while, but then, like always, Kirsch farts and we’re forced to run back to his car and lock him out. “Let me in! I’m scared of the dark!”

 

We laugh harder as he pounds on the window. “Think he’s had enough?”

 

She shrugs and unlocks the door before we crawl into the back. He starts the engine and glares back at us. “So not cool, bros.”

 

“Love you,” we chuckle out.

 

“Whatever,” he mutters before pulling out of the parking lot.

 

_**3:15 am** _

 

We finally get to Carm’s house, after a long ten minutes of arguing over which way we should take to get there; because apparently ‘some ways are more fun to drive than others’.

 

“Does your Mom know that we’re here?” Kirsch asks. Which is a stupid question to ask, but last time Carmilla didn’t tell her Mom that we were coming over and she ended up hitting Kirsch with a broom at three in the morning.

 

“Even if she didn’t, you don’t have to worry, the brooms are in the basement now, big boy.”

 

I laugh and he sticks his tongue out at her.

 

We walk up to her door and she lifts up a flower pot to grab the key before sticking it in the lock and twisting it.

 

See, Carmilla is filthy freakin rich. So much actually that I’m surprised when we signed her up for that _How Rich am I_ reality series, she didn’t get accepted. Her Mom works at Karnstein  & Johnson which is the biggest business in the entire midwest. She and her partner, who is actually really nice by the way, are the bosses of a company that makes farming supplies; like tractors, combines, all of that expensive stuff that’s kind of important in the midwest.

 

Go figure, huh?

 

So, as you might have imagined, her house is huge. They built it out on Big Woods Lake which has 12 acres of land. Not like anyone needs that much, anyways, but… whatever.

 

It’s kind of weird though, Carmilla doesn’t act like she’s rich, and neither do Will or her Mom. I mean, besides donating to charities and holding charity donations at her office, they kind of pretend their not made of money.

 

Which may or may not be another reason I like Carmilla.

 

She wants everyone to think she’s one thing when really, she’s another. “Lil nerd!”

 

I shake my head and look up. “What?” I look around and frown. “Where’s Carmilla?”

 

He shakes his head and smirks at me as he pulls two granny smith apples from their fridge. “I swear, Laura. You either need to stop thinking about Carm all the time, or just ask her out.”

 

I scoff and rip the apple out of his hand. “I do not think about her all the time. I don’t even like her like that.”

 

He lowers the apple from his mouth dramatically and gives me ‘one of those’ looks. “You so do.”

 

I raise one of my eyebrows. “Do not!”

 

“Yes, you do!”

 

I glare at him. “I do _not!_ ”

 

He laughs. “Laura, I swear to god. Stop being such a baby. What if she likes you back?”

 

I sigh and lean against the counter. “Yeah, well, what if she doesn’t?!” I say, letting out a sigh afterwards. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

 

He sighs and stands by me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “You think I didn’t take that chance with Will?”

 

I let out a harsh breath. “Well, yeah but you kind of knew Will liked you, so.”

 

“How was I supposed to know that what Carmilla says is actually true sometimes?”

 

I laugh.

 

“Just… I don’t know, ask her who she likes or something.”

 

I shove him. “I can’t do that you -”

 

“Uh… you guys done trying to kill each other?”

 

I pull away from Kirsch and slide some hair behind my ear. She smirks at me and I blush. “Did you uh... hear any of that?”

 

She throws Kirsch and I a blanket and pillow before jumping up and sitting on her counter. “That depends… should I have?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“No.”

 

Kirsch and I glare at each other before Carmilla jumps down from the counter. We walk downstairs to her basement which is totally decked out. She has a pool table, foosball table, air hockey table, drum set, three guitars, a slot machine, two flat screen TV’s, two Xbox’s, and two Playstations.

 

I’ve been here so many times it’s unreal, but it doesn’t matter, I still think this is amazing.

 

Don’t get me wrong, Kirsch and I live in the same neighborhood, you know… the one that’s considered ‘the rich neighborhood’, but it’s nothing compared to Carm’s house.

 

“You dumbasses going to help me or just glare at each other?” she asks, throwing the blanket out over the carpet. I sigh and grab the other end while Kirsch smirks at me. “What’s up with you two?”

 

“Laura likes someone,” he says and I nearly walk over and choke the crap out of him. But I don’t because, sadly, I have self control.

 

He’s still dead though.

 

“Oh yeah? Well, Kirsch suc -”

 

“Don’t!” he shrieks, holding his hands out. “Shit, please don’t.”

 

I smirk and cocked my head to the side. “Then who do I like?”

 

He blinks. “No one, I was just kidding.”

 

Carmilla scoffs. “Whatever, dorks.”  

 

_**3:32 am** _

 

When we finished laying out the blankets we turned on the Xbox. Of course, we end up playing my favorite game because I used the ‘it’s my birthday’ excuse.

 

Works every time.

 

“Dude, Call of Duty 2 sucks ass, why are we even playing it?” Kirsch whines as I aim and kill him with a headshot. “Oh come on!”

 

“Because,” I say, pushing the joystick up and then right, “it’s my birthday.”

 

“You’re seventeen, you’re going to have to stop using that excuse pretty soon, cupcake. I mean,” she pauses to shoot and kill me, “we’re almost adults, after all.”

 

I respawn and make my way down a narrow dirt path, pressing down on my joystick. I make it to a clearing of trucks and old cement cylinders and hide in one of them, managing to reload and make my way back to my hiding spot. “Doesn’t that scare you?”

 

“It scares the shit out me,” Kirsch says as he blows up one of those red containers. “Carm’s probably just saying it doesn’t because she still thinks she’s cool.”

 

She laughs. “How can I be cool? I’m friends with you losers.”

 

I frown playfully. “Just friends?”

 

She looks at me and gives me a smirk. “Well, did you want to be more than ‘just friends’, sweetheart? Because that can be arranged.”

 

I blush so hard that I have to set my controller down to cover my cheeks. “I meant best friends, buttface.”

 

Kirsch fake coughs so freaking loud and I want to kill him. I shoot him a look and he shrugs, a smile on his stupid face. “Did you now?”

 

“Yes! We’re _best_ friends. Not just friends.”

 

She laughs. “Yeah, yeah,” she says as she pauses the game. “Let’s go find something to sleep in.”

 

If I’m being honest, Kirsch and I have a third of our clothes here. We all basically live at each other’s houses. Which, I really have to thank my Dad for. He doesn’t know any of us are gay, but he still let’s him sleepover because he knows that wherever Carmilla goes, Kirsch goes and vice versa.

 

I end up finding my green tank top and blue and a pair of Carmilla’s pink spandex (yeah, I know, right??), Kirsch ends up with an under armour shirt and black sweat pants, and Carmilla ends up with an old band crop top and her black silk pajama pants. “Really, dude? Silk?”

 

“It’s breathable, asshole.”

 

“You’re breathable!”

 

We all laugh and she pushes him off the couch. “Fine, we’re sleeping on the floor anyway,” he says, crawling on top of the blankets and bringing a pillow under his chin. I look at Carm and she shrugs so we join him. “Nuh uh, I’m sleeping on the end.”

 

“Fine, I don’t mind sleeping by cupcake. At least she doesn’t spit on me in my sleep!”

 

Kirsch and I laugh. “That was honestly one time, Karnstein. I was dreaming about llamas.”

 

“It was still disgusting.”

 

**_4:11 am_ **

****

Seriously?

 

Did Kirsch have to snore so freaking loud? “Hey, cupcake?”

 

I take the pillow off my face and give her a mopey look. “What?”

 

She’s laying on her stomach, eyes burning holes in the blanket’s loose strings that she’s picking at. “Who do you like?”

 

I groan and push the pillow back into my face. “It’s no one,” I mumble.

 

When she doesn’t say anything for a while, I move the pillow off my face and lay on my side so that I’m facing her, propping my head up with my hand.

 

“Well… why are you asking?”

 

She shrugs. “You’re my best friend, I don’t know,” she sighs. “I just figured you would have told me or something ‘cuz you told beefcake.”

 

I grin. “Are you jealous?”

 

“No.”

 

I poke her in the side. “Yeah, you are.”

 

She slaps my hand away. “I am not, Hollis.”

 

I make a face. “Ooh, last name basis? What’d I ever do to you?”

 

She groans and faceplants into the blanket. I laugh and tap her on the shoulder a few times. She doesn’t move.

 

I sigh. “Carm?”

 

“No,” she grunted.

 

Okay, seriously? She’s acting like a child.

 

It doesn’t surprise me though, she get’s like that when…

 

Wait.

 

“Are you mad at me?”

 

She doesn’t say anything; she just moves her head so she’s facing away from me.

 

“Carmilla Karnstein.”

 

She sighs deeply. “Yes?”

 

It’s not like Carmilla hasn’t ever been mad at me before.

 

During Junior year, Danny told me she had a crush on me, and well… she told everyone, actually. It was during a game of truth or drink, and Carmilla asked her who she liked and she shrugged and said it was me. I don't know why, but Carm got pretty mad at me.

 

“Why are you mad?”

 

“Oh my god,” she mumbles. “I’m mad because you told Kirsch who you like but you won’t tell me, okay?”

 

Oh.

 

“Oh.”

 

She laughs dryly. “Yeah, _oh_.”

 

“Carm, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you, it’s just that I can’t.”

 

She sighs again and pulls the blanket over her head. “Fine.”

 

“You’re still mad,” I point out, removing the blanket from over her head.

 

“No I’m not.”

 

I smile. “Then look at me and tell me you’re not.”

 

She turns her head to face me and gives me a sarcastic half smile. “See? Not mad.”

 

I laugh. “You’re a dork.”

 

She hums and then folds her hands under her head before shutting her eyes. “Goodnight loser.”

 

“Goodnight,” I say, pulling the covers up to my chin.

 

“Love you.”

 

I smile. “Love you too, Carm.”

 

**_1:43 pm_ **

****

“Hey cutie, if you’re not gonna go get coffee with me, I’m not bringing anything back for you.”

 

I groan but don’t open my eyes. “You don’t even have a car,” I mumble into my yellow pillow.

 

I totally want coffee, but my yellow pillow is so much better. “Would you just get up?!”

 

And then my head is on the carpet and she’s hitting me with said yellow pillow. I put my hands up in front of my face and sweep my leg around to connect with the back of her knee and she falls to the floor. “You know, your Dad did a smart thing when he signed you up for Krav Maga.”

 

I peek through the blanket covering my face and grin. “Say Krav Maga again.”

 

She frowns. “Absolutely not,” she says, standing back up and offering me her hand. “You coming or what?”

 

I take her hand and she pulls me to my feet. I stretch and give her a look. “You don’t have a car.”

 

“I have a motorcycle license, though.”

 

I chuckle. “Yeah, with no motorcycle.”

 

She smirks and I raise an eyebrow. “On the contrary, sweetheart.”

 

I grin. “You finally got one?!”

 

“Yep!”

 

I squeal and wrap her in a hug. She hugs me back and we jump a few times before I pull back. “I didn’t think the day would come.”

 

“Shut up, Laura,” she says before dragging me up two flights of stairs to her room. She walks over and opens her closet. “Pick something, and hurry up, I have like… forty five minutes to get you back to your house.”

 

I ruffle through my assorted clothes and decide on medium blue skinny jeans, a light blue button down shirt. “Turn around!”

 

She doesn’t, she keeps smirking at me. “You turn around.”

 

I furrow my brow. “That… that wouldn’t - you… ugh!” I huff before going into her closet and closing the doors.

 

I take off my tank top and hit my hand on something hard.

 

“Frick me!”

 

She’s laughing. “Is that an offer, cupcake?”

 

“Fuck you!” I yell.

 

“Ooh, is _that_ an offer?” I can practically hear the smirk in her voice.

 

I roll my eyes before jerking the closet doors open, balling up my tank top and throwing it in her face. She laughs when I shut the closet.

 

“Nice bra, cutie!”

 

_“Shut up!”_

 

**_1:53 pm_ **

 

“Finally ready?” she asks as we both slip on our shoes.

 

I stick my tongue out at her. We both stand up and I reach for the doorknob. “Kirsch! Will!”

 

 _“What?!”_ they yell back.

 

“I’m taking cupcake for coffee, you guys want the usual?”

 

_“Yeah, thanks!”_

 

She rolls her eyes. “Anything else you wanna say?”

 

There’s a pause. _“Happy Birthday Laura!”_

 

We laugh. “Thanks guys, see you later!”

 

Carmilla bats my hand away from the doorknob and opens it herself.

 

“Gee, thanks,” I say sarcastically, giving her a smirk anyway.

 

We walk outside and take a right off of the porch to head for their four stall garage.

 

I mean, no big deal, right?

 

Except for the fact that they have another four stall garage on the left side of their house. Which doesn’t make any sense since there’s only three of them living in the house but, you know, not my business. “Quit giving me that look. I built that other garage for you and Kirsch.”

 

I smile. “Whatever.”

 

We finally get to the garage, she punches in the code into the keypad and the door slides open.

 

I nearly lose my crap.

 

Because _holy crap on a cheese stick._

 

“It’s a Harley Davidson 500,” she says proudly. “And also, your birthday present.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You’re gonna be the first person to ride it with me!” she smiles and dear god, take me now.

 

She’s too cute when she gets excited about something. “You know, for someone who ‘hates everything and everyone’, you seem pretty happy right now.”

 

Carmilla rolls her eyes and walks over to her bike, tossing me a black helmet. I frown.

 

“Who’s gonna wear the pink one?”

 

She gives me a weird look. “Um… me?”

 

I laugh. “Carmilla Karnstein, do you have a new favorite color?”

 

She sticks her tongue out at me and hops on the bike and starts the engine. I smile and put my helmet on, before hopping on the back and wrapping my arms around her waist. “Okay, you know you have to lean with me when I -”

 

“When you turn, yeah, yeah.”

 

She nods and backs up, feet gliding and bouncing rhythmically on the cement. We eventually make it down to the street and she revs the engine. “Ready?”

 

I shrug and tighten my grip on her waist. “I guess.”

 

And then we’re zooming down empty roads and then a highway and holy crap this is so cool.

 

We end up weaving in and out of cars since it’s kind of rush hour, but here we don’t really have a huge rush hour, so anyway it’s not really a big deal.

 

She pulls into a parking space and cuts the engine.

 

And then she does the thing

 

You know… _the thing._

 

She took her helmet off and shook her hair out.

 

Meanwhile, thirty seconds later I’m still standing here looking like an idiot. “Uh… not that it matters to me because I’ll still get coffee but, are you coming or not?”

 

I shake my head and set the helmet on her motorcycle. “Yeah, sorry.”

 

We walk in and the guy behind the counter, Carmilla’s uncle, waves at us and we wave back. I personally am not a huge fan of coffee, but I come here because Carmilla and Kirsch love it so much.

 

And everyone here knows us, so, we may or may not get discounts from time to time. “Hey, John.”

 

“Ah, my favorite niece!”

 

She laughs. “I’m your only niece, John.”

 

He waves a hand at us before adjusting his apron. “What can I get for you ladies? The usual?”

 

Carmilla nods. “I’ll have my usual, but uh, cupcake here wants that ‘special drink’ we talked about on the phone?”

 

He smiles. “Oh, you mean the triple chocolate chocolate chip cream frappuccino?”

 

My chin basically drops to the floor.

 

Did he just say… _triple chocolate?_

“I’ll have everything ready in a few minutes,” he says before he turns around. “Karnstein and Hollis are here!”

 

“New order for Hollis?” Jamie, a girl who blends the drinks asks.

 

John nods. “You know it!”

 

Carm and I make our way to an empty table and wait for our names to be called. She rolls her eyes at me because I can’t stop smiling at her. “I love you, you know that, right?”

 

She crinkles up a napkin, smiles and throws it at my face. “Yeah, I think I knew that.”

 

**_2:32 pm_ **

****

Carmilla and I go to walk through the door but John calls after us. “Ladies, hold up.”

 

He slides over the counter and jogs over to us and hands me a gift card. I gasp. “John, are you serious?!”

 

I flip it over and...

 

_Oh. My. God._

 

“You think fifty bucks will do it for her?”

 

Carmilla shakes her head. “Now that she knows this drink exists? Probably not.”

 

I shove her and she laughs.

 

John smiles. “It’s from all of us. Happy Birthday, Laura.”

 

I hug him tightly. “Thank you.”

 

He pulls back and glances over his shoulder. “I should probably get back to work, but, thanks for stopping in, like always.”

 

_**2:43 pm** _

 

Carmilla pulls up in my driveway, cuts the engine, takes her helmet off, does the thing and then smiles at me. “Happy Birthday, cutie.”

 

I crush her in a hug. “Thanks, Carm.”

 

She struggles out of my grip.

 

“You wanna come inside until my Dad gets here?”

 

She purses her lips before sighing. “Guess I don’t have a choice, do I?”

 

“Nope.”

 

**_5:47 pm_ **

 

 ** _Carm *-*:_** so my mom’s having this fancy dinner celebration party or whatever tonight, you guys wanna come?

 

 ** _Kirschy boy:_** heck yea!

 

 ** _Me:_** Duh?

 

 ** _Carm *-*:_** okay cool. It’s a black tie event sooo do with that information what you will. Kirsch, pick Laura up at 6:15 and don’t bother putting on your suit, just bring what you guys are going to wear to my house okay? And don’t be late, I’m serious.

 

 ** _Kirschy boy:_** so bossy…

 

 ** _Carm *-*:_** Kirsch?

 

 ** _Kirschy boy:_** yea?

 

 ** _Carm *-*:_** shut the fuck up

 

 ** _Me:_** losers

 

I shut my laptop and go to my closet. I have dresses, dress pants, dress shirts and…

 

Yes.

 

I pull my suit out from the literal depths of closet hell and smile. I lay it on my bed and rush downstairs. “Dad!”

 

I hear a pan clang on the floor before I round the corner and peer into the kitchen.

 

Oops. “Oh, sorry Dad. I was uh… just wondering if you maybe wanted to go to this thing for Carmilla’s Mom tonight?”

 

He picks up the pan, puts it in the sink and smiles. “Of course, when is it?”

 

I grin sheepishly. “I uh… I don’t know, but Kirsch is picking us up at 6:15.”

 

He sighs and glances at the clock on the oven. “Black tie event, I’m guessing?”

 

I nod and he smiles.

 

“Good.”

 

_**6:43 pm** _

 

Carm opens the door and shakes her head. “Get in here, losers.”

 

My Dad clears his throat and she smiles sheepishly.

 

“Uh… and Jack.”

 

Kirsch, my Dad and I laugh while Carmilla huffs and runs up to her room.

 

We get dressed, Carmilla helps me tie my tie, and my Dad helps Carmilla tie her tie and then we’re all in the kitchen trying help her Mom set everything up. “Carmilla, where on earth did you get that suit?”

 

She comes back up from the wine cellar, closes the door and brushes said suit off. “John bought it for me.”

 

She smiles. “Well, you look sharp as hell. I like it,” she says. “In fact, you all look sharp as hell.”

 

It was true. My Dad was wearing Vera Wang, I was wearing Vera Wang and Kirsch and Will were wearing matching suits that they ordered online from some foreign company.

 

I hate to brag, but we look _gooooood._

 

And then there’s Mrs. Karnstein, wearing her power suit, which, in all regards is just as nice as any suit. “Well, Mrs. Karnstein, I’m sure we don’t look half as good as you.”

 

She smiles at me and throws me a stack of plastic champagne glass. “Thank you, Laura.”

 

My Dad looks up from his job of wiping down the counter. “So… how much time do we have?”

 

Mrs. Karnstein looks up at the clock. “Shit, we have like… ten minutes.”

 

We kick it into high gear.

 

**_7:02 pm_ **

 

Kirsch, Will, Carmilla and I are sitting in her room, leaning against whatever surface we can find.

 

Carm gets up and walks over to her dresser, picking up a plate of brownies with plastic wrap over them. “So, I made brownies earlier, in case any of you -”

 

We all jump up, running for the brownies and tearing the plastic wrap to shreds in attempt to get the snack. There’s one left for her, but hey, who said there would be?

 

“Fucking savages,” she mutters, grabbing her own brownie and sitting back down next to me.

 

“These things are freaking _huge_ ,” I admire, taking a huge bite and humming. “And good as hell.”

 

Carmilla smirks at me and takes a bite of hers.

 

I finish that thing in thirty seconds flat.

 

They’re all staring at me, and I couldn’t care less.

 

It was that good.

 

Carmilla stands up and rubs her hands together. “This party’s gonna be fun as fuck.”

 

“No way, these things are always boring,” Will says, fixing his suit’s shoulders.

 

“Not tonight,” she says and he frowns. She cocks her head to the side. _“Dude,”_ she says, jerking her head towards her dresser.

 

He mouths something to her and then smiles, shaking his head. He nudges Kirsch and whispers something in his ear that makes him laugh. “Oh, seriously?”

 

“What?” I ask.

 

They laugh.

 

“Nobody tell her,” Carmilla says and I shoot her a look.

 

“Whatever.”

 

_Half an hour later…_

 

_Oh, god dammit Carmilla._

 

I squeeze my eyes shut and open them, scanning the room for her. I find her and march towards her. She’s talking to Will and Kirsch so I grab her arm and yank her towards me, pulling her through the crowd and into a hallway. “I’m gonna kill you.”

 

She smiles dopily. “Love you?”

 

I groan and drop her arm. “A weed brownie, really?”

 

“You seemed tense.”

 

I wanna be mad at her. So freaking bad, but I can’t help it, I start laughing.

 

I’m talking hysterical laughing, and then she’s joining me.

 

Once it dies down, I’m smiling at her. “I’m still gonna kill you.”

 

She smiles. “Take your best shot, cupcake.”

 

**_8:04 pm_ **

 

We’re standing in the living room, leaning against the wall when I hear feedback from a mic. I look up and see Carmilla’s Mom at the front of the room standing on a piano bench. In heels.

 

Now I see where Carmilla gets her fearlessness from. “Alright, first of all I would like to thank you all for coming and supporting this company’s growing business.”

 

Everyone claps, but I don’t.

 

I feel like this is a speech that’s going to end in someone dying, I can’t shake the feeling.

 

Almost like the resolution at the end of the Titanic. You know, the whole ‘everything that happened has happened for a reason and we’re here on account of that’ speech.

 

I feel like the survivors of the Titanic.

 

I feel like a bird trying to fly through water.

 

I feel like a simile in a poem that an author can’t get completely right.

 

I just… _feel._

 

“I want to introduce you to my two wonderful children, Carmilla and Will and their friends Wilson Kirsch, Laura Hollis and the addition of Laura’s Dad, Jack Hollis.”

 

Oh, well now I just feel screwed.

 

We all walk to front and I’m starting to sweat because they know.

 

They have to.

 

_My Dad knows._

_Oh god, everyone knows._

 

“These five people standing up here have been a big part of my life since Aaron walked out on my family and I. Carmilla just got her first motorcycle, Will might be getting accepted into NYU, Kirsch, as he prefers to be called is still helping at homeless shelters on the weekend, Laura has been a big help with my business itself, as well as my kids’ best friend and Jack has also been a huge help with my business and an amazing support system for my family and I. I couldn’t be more proud of anyone,” she says. And I can’t tell if her eyes are underwater or if she’s crying so I don’t say anything. She hands the mic to Carmilla.

 

“Uh, hi. My Mom… you know, she’s… she’s the bee's knees, I mean she’s always there for me even when she’s not, like… like right now. She’s here but she’s not because…” she looks at us, covering the mic and shaking her head. I clear my throat and motion to her. “... because a part of her is always with her business, but… she um, a bigger part is always with us. Yep, love you Mom!”

 

She shoves the mic into Will’s hands. “Soooo… don’t know if I can uh… top that, but yeah, My Mom is just the best. She’s cleaned up after my fishes… uh I mean, messes and helped me with my Calculus homework -”

 

“We’re not even in Calculus yet,” I say. We all supress a laugh, either behind our hands or the fabric of our suits.

 

“But uh… yes, she is… one heck of a woman and she should be lucky… I mean, you should be lucky to dra- have her.”

 

I look at their Mom and she has an eyebrow raised.

 

_She knows._

 

He passes the mic forcefully to Kirsch. “Mrs. Karnstein is a swell woman and you should all worship her. I’m sure ya’ll are fine folk, but let’s get real. Mrs. Karnstein is the boss ass b -”

 

I grab the mic from him and pull it to my lips. “Oh, Kirsch… always so funny. Um… y- you know, right now I feel there’s not a single piece of time that doesn’t count.” I look at everyone and their nodding appreciatively. “It’s like we’re underwater sometimes, but that’s okay because we know we’ll make it back to the surface for a breath of fresh new air. That’s kind of how the Karnstein’s life has been, you know? Coming up for a breath of fresh air every once in a while, life the victims of the Titanic sinking. Always hope in thinking that someone’s coming to save you when you feel so alone even when you’re surrounded by so many other people. But they don’t need help because we’re the survivors of the Titanic, and this is the Carpathia. We’ve made it. We made it all the way and there’s no going back.” I take a deep breath and drop the mic. “Crushed it,” I whisper.

 

Mrs. Karnstein picks the mic back up and clears her throat. “Uh… thank you for that, you guys…” she says skeptically. “Anything you want to say, Jack?”

 

He takes the mic. “Just that I’m really proud of how far you’ve come and where you’re going, Catherine.” He nods and hands the mic back and the crowd starts awkwardly slow clapping and oh my god they all know.

 

They so know and we’re so screwed.

 

_**12:11 am** _

__

The party’s finally over and we’re in the process of cleaning up and I’m still pretty fried. Up to the point that five minutes I thought we were in a scene from the movie Fury and I started making tank noises.

 

“Psst… hey, cupcake, over here!”

 

I jump and spin around, arms raised in the air, ready for any attackers. “Who is it?”

 

“Shhhhh!”

 

I frown and glance around.

 

 _“Over the fuck here!”_ she whisper-yells.

 

I jump again and then I’m staring Carmilla down with a glare so fierce she should have already dropped dead. “Are you the enemy?”

 

“No! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for the last twenty minutes!”

 

I sigh and walk over to her, making sure to do a ninja roll onto the carpet in the hallway. “Now what?” I ask, holding up a little squirt gun in my hands. Which, thank god for changes of clothes, otherwise my suit would be soaked.

 

“I’m really fucking high right now.”

 

I turn to her, and then look around frantically. “Shit! Are we in a plane or something?”

 

Everything kind of looked like it was fuzzy. And there are little blue mushrooms dancing on the counter tops. “Do you see them too?” she whispers.

 

I nod slowly. “Yes.”

 

“I’m gonna have to have a talk with my drug dealer because this weed is definitely laced with some dumb shit.”  

 

_“What’d he say, half a way… he can tell I ain’t missin’ no meals. Come through and f -”_

 

“Laura? Carmilla?”

 

She swallows loudly. “It’s my Mom,” she whispers, doing a little prayer symbol across her chest.

 

We stand up just as she rounds the corner, Kirsch and Will behind her looking like kicked puppies. She sighs. “I was a teenager once, too. Believe it or not.”

 

“We didn’t -” Carm tries, but her Mom holds up a hand.

 

“You guys are high as fuck. I’m not an idiot. And Laura, god bless your Dad’s innocence because he’s clueless.”

 

I bite the inside of my cheek. “I’m sorry… it’s my fa -”

 

She holds up her other hand. And is she…?

 

She’s _smirking._ “You guys, I don’t give a rat’s ass if you eat weed brownies or smoke weed or whatever, but the minute you do any hard drugs is the minute I’ll kill you all,” she says as she pulls out her phone. “By the way, I have videos of you guys trying not to act like everything is a warzone. I’ll show it to you in the morning.”

 

Carmilla is staring at her Mom and then I’m laughing and then Kirsch and Will are laughing and then Carmilla and her Mom are laughing and I just oh god I can’t stop.

__  
  
**The next morning…**  


****

_“Guys! Breakfast!”_

 

I opens my eyes and holy crapsticks when did we end up in the basement? And how did we manage to get tangled into one giant ball of limbs?

 

Kirsch groans, and then Will and then Carmilla.

 

“Repeat of last year, anyone?”

 

We all stand up, brushing off our clothes that aren’t even our clothes. I’m wearing one of Kirsch’s shirts, Carmilla’s wearing Will’s sweatpants (I think?), Kirsch is wearing a freaking _Pink_ sweater, and Will’s wearing my blue spandex.

 

What the hell?

 

_“Seriously guys, before it gets cold?”_

 

We drag ourselves upstairs and sit at the table awkwardly silent. Mrs. Karnstein looks so pissed off I could piss my pants.

 

If I was wearing any.

 

Thank god for Kirsch being a giant, right?

 

She sets our plates down in front of us and we eventually, tentatively start eating.

 

And then she starts laughing. “You know, I never would have thought that a bunch of seventeen year olds would have a fashion show at one in the morning and ask an adult to watch.”

 

We look down at our clothes and groan. “What else happened?”

 

“Well, Carmilla was running around the house in her underwear reciting lines from Shakespeare, Laura dressed up like a, dare I say, virgin sacrifice and chased after Carmilla yelling _‘take me away you broody Shakespearean lover’_ , and Will and Kirsch had a sword fight with paper towel rolls until Kirsch got smacked in the eye with one and cried for fifteen minutes.”

 

I figured we were going to end up crying, but here we were spitting out our orange juice and perfectly crispy bacon laughing over something we could barely remember.

 

“Oh my god, I called you a boss ass bitch, didn’t I?”

 

Mrs. Karnstein’s face is red and she’s trying not to die and it’s just the best thing in the entire world. “You sure did.”

 

“I wish we could freaking remember,” I say, calming down from my laughter and sighing.

 

Their Mom laughs again and pulls out her phone. “You know, the cool thing about technology is that you can capture moments like that and keep them forever.”

 

“Are you serious?!” we yell, smiles overcoming our faces.

 

“Finish eating and we’ll see.”

 

I should be dead right now, and I honestly don’t know what it is but somehow we always end up getting out of trouble, even if it has us in it’s tightest grip. We dodge bullets better than James Bond, and if that’s not something to celebrate, then I don’t know what is.

 

I mean, we might as well enjoy it now, because we’re gonna be adults with responsibilities, but right now we’re kids. And, yeah, I’m glad we all made it to seventeen because it’s off to a pretty good start.  

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> so yeah... cheesy ending, I know. I'm gonna try to get away from those because even they make me sick. So, sorry about that. And honestly, that whole 'laced weed' thing? totally happens, and you totally do see blue dancing mushrooms. it's pretty fucked up.


End file.
